The Russia-Ukraine war has created challenges the world over in terms of food grain supplies and the Government of India is looking to step in with a likely export of 100 lakh tonnes of grains this year, with the first quarter itself resulting in orders for 35 lakh tonnes.
Commerce minister Piyush Goyal, who is also the Minister for Food and Public Distribution, told The Hindu that his Ministry had put in place an internal committee to look into qualitative standards of food export, not just grains, but other food items as well, to 180 countries across the world.
"There is nothing wrong with the quality of our grains, and other food items, but specific countries have particular qualitative norms and also different requirements of food items. The internal committee is looking at matching what we have got and putting in place paperwork to facilitate exports. We plan to put in 2,000 applications for exports to countries that have high dependence on Russian and Ukraine grains," he stated.
India viewed the situation “not as an opportunity” but one that could provide a compassionate solution to countries in need that had arisen out of a very “unfortunate situation.”
Finding new avenues like FTAs
In terms of the effect of the war on India's own trade with both Russia and Ukraine, he said the crisis would not affect India significantly as it was finding new avenues like FTAs (free trade agreements) with the UAE and others.
"This government means business. We do not want to be in business but we want to be a facilitator. We mean business when we say India will be aligned with the world. All countries are studying this matter. But good thing is our total trade with Ukraine and Russia are not very large. Our exports are around $2.5 to $3 billion and imports were in the region of $10 or $11 billion. So, there are a few sectors that may get a little impact, but given the fact that we are expanding our engagements with Australia and the UAE and now discussions are on with the European Union - and we will more than make up for any opportunities that we may lose," Mr. Goyal observed.
The government was working on short-term procurement of items such as sunflower seeds from Ukraine as India was also helping other countries that were similarly getting impacted, he added.
